Globally, the design industry is going through a silent revolution with old rules being broken everyday and new ones being created, believes Gabor Schreier, executive creative director, Saffron, an independent brand consulting firm headquartered in Madrid. Schreier should know. In addition to working on global brands that include A1 Telekom Austria, Rompetrol, Bankinter, Vueling, Coca-Cola, Swiss Re, Repsol, NH Hoteles, Telef?nica, Daimler and Smart, Schreier is a lecturer at the IE Business School, Istituto Europeo di Design and the EAE Business School in Madrid on branding and design.
In India last month as part of the jury panel at the Kyoorius Design Awards, Schreier is happy to see the kind of design work being created by Indian talent. In a conversation with FE BrandWagon?s Anushree Bhattacharyya, Schreier talks about the need to educate students, clients, designers further on design so that the quality of work enhances. Edited excerpts:
What is the kind of design Saffron is involved with?
At Saffron we create brands, revitalise them and help them get the right expression to communicate with consumers. While doing this, we toy with various forms of design — architecture, graphic design or even through an identity programme or through a simple illustration. An identity project for a brand normally constitutes of different disciplines of design that is brought together; right from finding a cause for the brand to creating a logo to adding different visual elements. While the task of creating or even revitalising a brand might appear to be an easy job, the number of processes involved in it makes the job tougher.
How do brand owners react to design? Have they begun to realise the important role played by design?
A company should be aware of the fact that a brand needs to be nurtured. It needs to find a right channel to manifest itself and depending on what the company is, that is, the kind of brand it owns, the marketing strategy could vary?from one dependent on television and print to that completely relying on digital and radio.
Today, a company needs to be completely aware of what it wants to do and how it wants to do that. While companies are aware about the need to be present across medium, at times they fail to find a solution to the problem at the ground level. They usually forget to address the issue from the starting point which includes design as well.
When you start creating a new product or revitalising an existing one, what are the key points that you keep in mind?
First, one needs to be very clear about the purpose of the whole exercise, whether it is about a new brand or refurbishing an existing one. Several factors need to be considered. For example, why is the client coming to you?is it because of a strategic decision or is the current company merging with a third party and hence they need a new look, apart from other reasons such as, is the company looking to launching new products? As one begins the work, he/she needs to revisit the exercises that have been done in the past and see if some elements can be carried forward so that they can form the basis for further development or whether one needs to begin from scratch. These factors are then married with the strategy the company is following or wants to follow to create a new look.
What is the role that design plays in the life of a product/brand?
Design plays a very important role. It is what makes a brand tangible, attractive and appealing enough for consumers to buy it. For example, all the products launched by Apple are perfect examples of how design plays a vital role in selling products. Without the kind of design Apple products have, the company would not have been able to sell as many products it has sold till date. Again, if you get lost in an airport that is the time when you actually bother about design, since it is with the help of various sign elements that you can find your way about. Sometimes design is visible and there are times when it invisible. In whatever form design may be, it does play a crucial role.
What are the kinds of trends that could be see emerging in design?
Different trends are emerging in different countries. For instance, something that was said to be a trend in design in Western Europe about a year back, has now become a trend in Eastern Europe. But one trend that seems to be working across the globe is that fewer rules are being followed than before. In fact, old rules are being broken everyday to create something new. Also, one has the liberty and the duty to question some of the old rules as they don?t seem to be relevant anymore. Again, design is now being created to fit various mediums. For example, with the presence of multiple screens, an ad may be designed in such a way that it can be viewed on any screen?be it a smartphone or a tablet or on a piece of paper. Also what can be seen emerging as a significant trend is how big brands have realised the need to make communication specific for each region. Local language, signs, etc., are used to talk to consumers in their own dialect. In all, it is becoming more and more complicated and challenging.
How does Indian talent in design compare with its counterparts in Western countries?
India is not lagging behind its Western counterparts in design. Based on the work we saw at Kyoorius Design Awards, there is definitely no dearth of talent in India. Moreover, it is good to see that even clients are willing to support good design work. There are people here who can deliver the work. However, there is big disparity within the variety and quality of work. While some of the works that we have seen are extremely good, there are few that are very bad. This gap clearly tells that at some-point the standard of education needs to be further spread and upgraded. Everyone needs to be further educated, right from students to designers to brand owners.